Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited to begin her new job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence. Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following […]
The death of honour: duelling’s last hurrah
The slap of the glove, the demand for satisfaction, pistols at dawn; duelling is a familiar ritual to anyone who has read historical writing set in Europe from the Early Modern period onward. The duel as a gentlemanly way to settle matters of honour survived many attempts to suppress it over the centuries; but what […]
Nora by Nuala O’Connor
When Nora Barnacle, a 20-year-old from Galway working as a maid at Finn’s Hotel, meets young James Joyce on a summer’s day in Dublin, she is instantly attracted to him, natural and daring in his company. But she cannot yet imagine the extraordinary life they will share together. All Nora knows is she likes her […]
Hell Gate by Jeff Dawson
New York, 1904, and over a thousand are dead after the sinking of the General Slocum, a pleasure steamer full of German immigrants out for a day on the East River. The community is devastated, broken, in uproar. With a populist senator preying on their grievances, a new political force is unleashed, pushing America to […]
A Beautiful Spy by Rachel Hore
It all began in the summer of 1928… Minnie is supposed to find a nice man, get married and have children. The problem is it doesn’t appeal to her at all. She is working as a secretary, but longs to make a difference. Then, one day, she gets her chance. She is recruited by the […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Tim Mohr
Into the grey, authoritarian East Germany of the 1980s the punk movement exploded, challenging the regime and ultimately helping to end it. Tim Mohr’s Burning Down the Haus is a history of the GDR’s punk revolution told by the people at its heart and was shortlisted for the 2020 Non-fiction Crown Award. He tells Historia […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Jung Chang
Jung Chang, the historian whose acclaimed family biography, Wild Swans, has been translated into 37 languages but is banned in her native China, is shortlisted for the 2020 HWA Non-fiction Crown Award for Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. Her book explores the lives of the influential Soong sisters, Ei-ling, Ching-ling and May-ling; three remarkable […]
The Second Marriage by Gill Paul
Jackie:When her first marriage ends in tragedy, Jackie Kennedy fears she’ll never love again. But all that changes when she encounters… Ari:Successful and charming, Ari Onassis is a man who promises her the world. Yet soon after they marry, Jackie learns that his heart also belongs to another… Maria:A beautiful, famed singer, Maria Callas is […]